PROLOGUE

NOVEMBER 16, 1995

Linda Sobek was the kind of daughter who was every parent’s dream.

She was picture pretty, and in fact the shapely blue-eyed blonde was so attractive that she had forged a successful career for herself as a calendar and swimsuit model.

The twenty-seven-year-old woman’s beauty was more than skin-deep, however, and family, friends, and other acquaintances agreed she was as lovely inside as outside. Kindness and consideration for others, along with a sunny, upbeat disposition, were linchpins of her character and personality.

She was especially close to her family, and although she lived only a few miles away from the home of her parents in the Los Angeles suburb of Lakewood—a short distance inland from San Pedro Bay—she made short chats with her mother a daily habit.

The five foot four inch, 105-pound, size three model kept a busy schedule, and this day in November was no exception. She already had appointments booked throughout the day and into the early evening when her mother, Elaine, telephoned at about 10:45 Thursday morning. Linda chatted for a few moments before cutting the conversation short.

She explained she was running late and was in a hurry for a meeting with a photographer named Chuck. A modeling shoot was set up for a car magazine. Later in the day she had an appointment for a costume fitting for a bit part on the popular television series, Married With Children, as well as a couple of other commitments.

Linda promised her mother she would call back later in the day to talk over plans for a weekend barbecue. After the hurried good-bye, she dictated a quick message for her paging service advising callers they had reached “Linda,” that it was 11 A.M., Thursday, and she expected to spend the rest of the day on location. She explained she wouldn’t have access to a telephone and asked callers to leave a message, which she would reply to that evening.

Either just before or moments after dictating the telephone message, she also made another call canceling a luncheon date at the Cafe Med restaurant on trendy Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. She was going to be tied up with the photo shoot.

A few minutes later the vibrant young model stepped out the door of the big four-bedroom house she shared with three roommates on the corner of Third Street and Beach in Hermosa Beach, and into the brilliant Southern California sunshine. Dressed in a crisply clean top and a pair of snappy shorts, she was in such a hurry that curlers were still in place in her corn-silk yellow hair. Climbing into her spiffy white Nissan 240 SX sports coupe, she steered the car into the street.

Linda Sobek never showed up for the costume fitting or for the other appointments later in the day. And she never called her mother back to firm up the plans for the weekend barbecue.